Gravity Review

The Best Space Movie Ever?

The opening crawl of Gravity helpfully reminds us of a well-known scientific fact: Life in space is impossible. There is no air pressure, no air, uninhabitable temperatures, and (ironically, considering the film’s title) no gravity. Director Alfonso Cuarón understands that this simple fact of life makes for an incredible movie premise and spends the next 90 minutes, vehemently and unequivocally proving the impossibility of space, in the most nerve-shredding, seat-clingingly, shart-inducing way imaginable.

Not only is life in space impossible, but figuring out how the film-makers actually shot Gravity without actually being in space is fairly incomprehensible too. Cuarón’s recreation of space exploration is so detailed and realistic; it will provoke much head-scratching long after the final credits roll in what will undoubtedly become one of 2013’s most talked-about movies. And rightly so. It’s a technological marvel that doesn’t just push the boundaries of film-making, it wraps a special effects bonanza around and incredibly life-affirming story, making it one of the tensest thrillers you’re ever likely to see.

The film opens with Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), an emotionally-distanced engineer on her first space shuttle mission, methodically repairing the Hubble telescope as she battles her zero gravity-induced nausea. Veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) is alongside her spacewalking his way into the record books, filling the air with idle chit-chat and tales of his ex-wife when — all of a sudden — disaster strikes. A satellite explosion has created a huge cloud of space debris, putting the crew in the path of a deadly space-suit shredding danger.

The film then shifts from its idling orbit into fifth gear (which it maintains for the remaining duration of the film) as the shuttle is destroyed in a hail of satellite debris, flinging Stone and Kowalsky into the depths of space. Comms with Houston are severed and the pair must work together to try find a way to the International Space Station in order to return to earth.

Rooting the space exploration aspect in gritty science-fact, rather than futuristic science-fiction, tethers the story to its human leads, and the incredible performances by Bullock and Clooney for the most part under bulky spacesuits), makes this a very human thriller, with the impossibility of space the movie’s terrifying big bad.

The thin line between life and death is consistently hammered home as the astronauts cling to each other — and the space-craft — often just by the very tips of their fingers, and you’ll find yourself holding your breath with them for most of the movie’s brisk run-time.

As the film made its way around the festival circuit, much of the talk centered on Sandra Bullock’s performance, and it does not disappoint. It is, for the most part, a one-woman show for the actress and her fight for survival and struggle with grief will surely have the Oscar judges clamouring come February. That the real star of the show isn’t the incredible special effects is an achievement in itself.

James Cameron, the director of Aliens and Avatar, has called Gravity “the best space film ever made” and he’s not far wrong. Cameron has undoubtedly pushed the boundaries of what is capable on film single-handedly, developing new technologies for CGI, motion capture and 3D, but Gravity has taken these tools and crafted an incredibly life-affirming thriller to which the special effects service the story and not the other way round.

Often with thrillers like this, the final act can be the film's undoing, but Gravity never loses focus of its core narrative: Ryan's fight for survival in the most impossible of circumstances, and the film's rhapsodic crescendo is tense, but also hugely satisfying.

It’s a rollercoaster of a movie, and not one for the faint-hearted, but miss Gravity at your peril, it’s about as much fun as you can have in a cinema with your trousers on.